About Us

@BCBSNC: Health Care is Changing, and We Are, Too

With our new blog, we're making deeper connections with North Carolinians and finding new ways to provide real-time, dependable information about health care, wellness and healthy living.Join us in the conversation.

Since 1933, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC) has offered its customers high quality health insurance at a competitive price and has led the charge toward better health and health care in our state. BCBSNC is a fully taxed, not-for-profit North Carolina company with headquarters in Chapel Hill and major operations centers in Durham, Fayetteville, and Winston-Salem. We employ more than 4,800 North Carolinians1 and serve more than 3.9 million customers.2

BCBSNC is committed to making the health care system in North Carolina better – but we know we can't do it alone. That's why we have worked with doctors, hospitals and others to bring our customers innovative solutions that simplify the health care system, improve efficiency and outcomes, and help rein in costs.

The BCBSNC PPO3 network of health care providers includes 98% of medical doctors and 99% of all general acute-care hospitals.4 When outside the state, our members have BlueCard® coverage with doctors and hospitals in all 50 states. They are also covered in more than 200 countries and territories around the world through BlueCard Worldwide®.5

BCBSNC employees work hard not only for our customers, but for the communities where they work and live. Since 1997, our employees have logged more than 387,000 volunteer hours at a value of over $6.7 million dollars in donated time6. Our diversity initiatives are fully integrated with the key elements of our corporate DNA: our culture, our workforce, our marketplace and our community. Each element contributes to our overall success.

Since 2000, the independent Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC) Foundation has invested more than $100 million into North Carolina communities through more than 750 grants7. The BCBSNC Foundation focuses specifically on improving health outcomes of populations served by safety net organizations; increasing physical activity and access to healthy, local food; and increasing the effectiveness of North Carolina nonprofit organizations and their leaders.

We're a Fully Taxed Company

BCBSNC was founded as a nonprofit Medical and Hospital Services Corporation. Although we are structured as a nonprofit (no stock) corporation, the company is fully taxed and last year incurred over $266.7 million in federal, state and local taxes8. BCBSNC has not been tax exempt since 1973 (State) and 1986 (Federal). It's important to distinguish that BCBSNC is a business that is not a 501 (c)(3) charitable organization.

Because we don't have shareholders, our net income is invested back into the company into things such as health programs for our members, customer service improvements and technology. It also contributes to our reserves, which represent the safety net for our customers in the event of an economic downturn or public health emergency.

Our Customer Service

Average customer satisfaction: 66.1% vs 58.9% for the other Blues on average9

Number of claims paid in 2013: 51.8 million10

Value of claims paid: $6.4 billion11

Customer service calls received in 2014: over 7.2 million12

Awards and Recognition

BCBSNC is accredited by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), a not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving health care quality. NCQA is the most widely-recognized accreditation program in the United States13.

For the fourth year in a row, BCBSNC was named one of the World's Most Ethical Companies by The Ethisphere Institute. Ethisphere recognized 132 companies spanning 21 countries and five continents. BCBSNC was one of only 26 nonprofit companies honored this year. Ethisphere Institute is leading international think tank dedicated to the creation, advancement and sharing of best practices in business ethics, corporate social responsibility, anti-corruption and sustainability. Each year, Ethisphere evaluates several thousand companies from around the world and recognizes those few that demonstrate a true commitment to ethical leadership, compliance practices and corporate social responsibility14.

Other Awards

Alliance for Work Life Progress - Seal of Distinction (2013-15)

American Heart Association - AHA Fit Friendly Award (2010-14)

AARP - Top 50 Employer for Employees Over 50 (5th time recognized)

Carolina Parent - Top 50 Family-Friendly Companies (2000-14)

CEO Roundtable on Cancer - CEO Cancer Gold Standard Award (2010 -14)

DiversityInc - Top 10 Company for Diversity in the South

Ethisphere Institute - World's Most Ethical Companies (2012-15)

Human Rights Campaign - Best Places to Work for LGBT Equality (2015)

National Association for Female Executives - Top 50 Companies for Executive Women (2015)

Triangle Business Journal - Healthiest Employers of the Triangle (2012-14)

Triangle Business Journal - 2014 Leaders in Diversity

Working Mother Media - 100 Best Companies (2007-14)

1 Employment numbers as of 3/5/2015

2 BCBSNC Financial Background 3/2015

3 Provider organization (PPO) includes State PPO, Federal Employee Program PPO, ACS Services and National Carolinas Program

4 The percentage of medical doctors is based upon the number of providers that applied for a BCBSNC provider number and then contracted with us versus the total number of providers who applied